Friday, November 4, 2011

World’s Loudest Organ Music to Fill the Air in Yeosu

Bird’s-eye View of the Sky Tower

The loudest organ music ever heard will fill the air of Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea, which is set to open just about 200 days later.

The Organizing Committee for Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea announced that the pipe organ to be installed on the Sky Tower was tested successfully in Germany, the home of pipe organs, and is now waiting to be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the loudest pipe organ in the world.

The transformation of the abandoned cement silos in the Yeosu New Port Area into the Sky Tower started in June this year after an international design contest was held for the tower in September last year. Consisting of two 55-story towers, the Sky Tower features a pipe organ on the outside and seawater desalination facilities and a video exhibition hall inside. The rooftop observatory deck offers an expansive view of the Expo site, Odongdo (island) and the south coast archipelago.

Console construction and pipe assembly are now entering their final processes in Germany. As the test operation of the pipe organ proved that the sound of the organ can be heard from as far as 6 kilometers away, the Organizing Committee hopes it will be recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s loudest pipe organ.

The pipe organ will be used to signal the opening and closing times of the Expo site during the Expo period as well as to play the national anthems of the participating countries and to play music for on-site concerts, among others.

Hong Seung-pyo, a professor at Hankyong University who came up with the idea of the pipe organ, said, “Although pipe organs tend to be built indoors and played for religious purposes, I wanted to challenge this convention. I brought out this idea of installing a pipe organ outside of the tower so that it could more deeply connect with Expo visitors by allowing them to not only hear the organ but play it themselves.”

Yang Hong-ju, Head of the Sky Tower Project Team of the Organizing Committee, commented, “I am confident that the Sky Tower pipe organ will become one of the Yeosu Expo’s landmarks, along with the tower’s rooftop observatory deck offering a breathtaking view of the Expo site and Yeosu and the seawater desalination facilities.

The Pipe Organ to Be Installed on the Sky Tower

With the official opening of the Expo only about 200 days away, construction of the Expo site is making fair progress. To date, 75 percent is completed. A total of 103 nations and eight international bodies have confirmed their participation in the Expo. In addition, the Suncheon-Wanju Expressway and the Jeolla KTX railway are now in full operation.